


Ain't lost, just wandering

by juddy



Category: Teen Wolf (TV), teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Ghosts, ghost!stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-09
Updated: 2014-02-09
Packaged: 2018-01-11 18:40:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1176530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juddy/pseuds/juddy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Stiles death, Lydia has to move in his house. She starts seeing dead people and needs to solve a murder</p><p>based on this amazing AU: <a href="http://scottmartinski.tumblr.com/post/70850640622">X</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Ain't lost, just wandering

When Lydia learned that her mother wanted to move in with her new fiancé, it was a Sunday night. Then it went pretty fast. They found a house a few weeks later, something big and spacious, as if Lydia had several siblings to share the house with, or maybe her mom wanted other children, but Lydia didn’t want to think about that.  
She wanted to think about something new, something other than supernatural stuff she had been costumed to over the past three years. It had almost disappeared the day one of her friends died. The pack of werewolves quickly dissolved, and the hunters left town to live a new life this was everybody wanted, to forget about the murder and pain.  
Mrs. Martin, who loved to surprise people, hadn’t told her together which house they bought, she just drove around Beacon Hills and suddenly stopped in front of house that Lydia knew all too well. She didn’t understand why they were parked here, but then, the “SOLD” sign caught her attention. 

“Please tell me this isn’t where we are going to live!!” She asked, though she knew the answer. 

Her heart tightened before it started beating faster. 

“Sweet heart, I know it’s hard but you need to move on, okay?” Her mother replied to her.  
“How am I supposed to move on when you bought the house of my dead best-friend? You know I used to spend my time at the Stilinski’s, so why did you buy it?”

She was angry, because her mother knew how much she had been affected by the death of Stiles. She had barely left their old house since then.  
Mr. Martin sighed and got out of the car. Lydia followed her mother, she didn’t want to be left alone anymore. Not since she had heard the Sheriff telling her, Scott, Allison, Isaac and Derek that Stiles was dead. Since the sheriff knew about the supernatural crap going on, he told them that Stiles had been beaten by a werewolf. They weren’t sure who did it, but Stiles’ body fought the bite. He died in the hospital hours later in front of his dad and Melissa, Scott’s mum.  
The sheriff was devastated and asked for his mutation somewhere else, where there was nothing but minor problems. He had nothing left in Beacon Hills. He would still visit his wife and son every week but that was that. He didn’t want to have anything to do with Beacon Hills anymore.

Lydia had a flashback, a traumatising memory. The day of the funeral, the whole town at stopped living to give their farewells to Stiles. That’s when she had realised how much time she had wasted ignoring him. Maybe she would have seen how amazing he was a long time ago if she wasn’t so stubborn. But there was nothing else she could do but grief now. 

When she stepped foot in the house, it felt weird. Like something was going on. She breathed in and out slowly, trying to convince herself that it would be okay, and she went upstairs. She already knew what room she would settled in.  
The blue colour of the walls was so familiar that she felt like she had been there the day before, but Stiles was dead for a month now. The room was still furnished, nothing had been touch. The bed was un-made, the walls still covered with posters and articles. There was still his computer, his clothes, everything, even the couple of bracelets, he had bought for her birthday two year ago, were still here.  
It was so overwhelming that she didn’t even noticed she was crying. It even smelled like Stiles. It smelled nicely, something sweet, like wood and spice, mixing perfectly together. It was weirdly comforting. 

She changed a few things, took off the posters, changed the sheets and put the computer away, she wouldn’t use it. Only the wall face the desk was left untouched. She would solve the mystery of who had bitten Stiles, even if she had stopped school. She swore to herself that she would find who ever was responsible for Stiles’ death. She wasn’t sure if she would kill the werewolf or she would denounce it to the police yet. 

When she got downstairs to eat, Lydia noticed that everything was still there, nothing had changed. She saw the Sheriff talking to her mom in the kitchen. He vaguely smiled at her when she came closer.

“Would you like to stay over for diner?” Her mom asked him.  
“Sorry, but I can’t. I should have already hit the road to my new flat. But thank you.” He replied, a bit uncomfortably. 

Lydia noticed he didn’t say home, it wasn’t feeling the same without Stiles around. She hopped he would be at least okay, that the sheriff wouldn’t try to do anything stupid. Then he left in a hurry. The two ladies watched him leaving the house and both felt their heart sinking a little bit.

“He was here to pick up a few things. And he gave us the keys of the garage.” Her mom said.

 

After diner, Lydia watched a bit of TV in the living room and felt really cold, even if it was 60° outside. It was like something frozen was sitting next to her.  
When she got enough of the stupid TV program she was trying to focus on, she went to find something to eat. Tough she was freezing, chocolate chip ice cream seemed perfect to get ride of the grimy feeling she had since they had arrived here. 

“What’s this?” She asked, when she saw a file on the counter. 

No one answered. So she took a look.

STILINSKI S. DEATH BY ANIMAL BITE  
CLASSIFIED

Lydia made sure no one was watching her. It was almost like the sheriff had left it there on purpose. So she went to upstairs in her bedroom to have a better look at it. 

She studied the case so hard that she fell asleep at the desk, still feeling freezing. Nothing she had been reading was making sense. She knew that most sheriff’s officers weren’t aware about the werewolf thing going on, but it seemed like they had been lied to. Stiles was found by the nemeton, when Lydia had first been told Stiles was found in the locker room.

Still asleep, Lydia was dreaming. She was at the Stilinski’s house and Stiles was here, pale and cold, but was here, saying her name over and over again.  
She woke up quickly, nearly jumping off the desk chair. The short dream had seemed so real, that she was disappointed to remember Stiles was dead. She never had a dream with dead people in it. There was a weird feeling accompanying her disappointment, this same sensation of coldness all over the room.

“Lydia?” Someone called her from within the room.

She turned around, imagining that her mother had heard noises from downstairs and wanted to know what was going on. But it wasn’t her mother. It was him! Pale, nearly transparent and incredibly clean, it was scary.  
If he had tried to joke by faking his own death, she was going to kill him.

“Is this a joke?? Or am I really going crazy this time?” She whispered to him and herself.  
“Lydia? Look at me, I’m gonna explain.”

She looked up at him, and it looked strangely like that time she had rushed here because Kanima/Jackson was dead, and Human/Jackson was alive and missing.

“Do you believe in ghost?” He murmured. 

She would have said no, a few years ago, but now it seemed like the most logic thing she had ever seen. 

“Really? My ex-boyfriend was a kanima, and my ex-friend with benefits was an alpha and you ask me if I believe in ghost?? God Stiles, I’m ready to believe my old toys starts living when I’m asleep or away!!” She was upset but still whispering, she didn’t need her mom imagining she was talking to herself. 

He laughed and it sounded just like it was when he was alive. Once again, she was crying, because she missed Stiles, more than she would ever admit it.

“I am ghost.” He announced. “But not the Patrick Swayze kind.” He joked, but she didn’t laugh. “I’ve read once that only people who experienced paranormal can see ghosts, since my dad doesn’t believe much in ghost and because he hasn’t come back here since my death. He didn’t see me. I guess I am here because they haven’t found the responsible for this.” Stiles looked annoyed, almost mad. “So yeah, I‘m stuck here, in this house, until someone finds my murderer.”

He threw himself on his bed, arms wild open and sighed. He looked like a child, waiting for someone to play with him.  
Lydia observed him and everything around to know if it was actually a dream or reality. It was real…

“Stiles?” He sat down properly and looked at her with the same eyes he always had when it was the two of them alone. A shiver shook her from head to toes. “Your file has been classified and they conclude you were dead because of an animal bite. They won’t re-open the cause. You know they don’t believe in werewolves.” She muttered nicely.  
“I don’t care about the police, I need someone, anyone to know that it was a murder, I was killed because I knew something I shouldn’t have known!!” His knuckles turned white and all his muscles were tensed.  
“Okay, calm down.” He didn’t listen.

She went over the bed, feeling the coldness that surrounded her a few ago coming from Stiles. She reached for his hands. They were almost here, it was made of cold flesh. She was touching him, only it was light, as if he didn’t have any bones or blood. That could explain why he was so white.

“Stiles! I Swear I will found who did this, I just need to know who.”

He let a frustrated groan out.

“I don’t know, I can’t remember anything about the night I was murdered. I just know it has something to do with this.”

He showed her the wall with articles pined onto it, strings connecting things together. It was about the fire at the Hale’s and all the murder ever since. 

“Okay. We’re going to figure this out, tomorrow. Right now I need to sleep.” She told him.  
“But there’s school tomorrow!!” He nearly shouted, surprised that Lydia Martin wasn’t even packing her bag for the next day.  
“I don’t go to school anymore.” She replied while she lied down on the comfortable bed.  
“What?? Why?”  
“Because I can’t walk pass your locker without crying, I can’t go to the cafeteria without wanting to beat to death the one who sat at your usual place. I can’t bring myself to live my life without you Stiles.” She confessed. “I just keep thinking about what you said, that death doesn’t happen to you but to the people around you, and you were right.”

A freezing hand wiped her tears away.

“If had known Lydia Martin cared so much about me, I would have died years ago.”

She looked at him, horrified.

“Okay, bad timing for this kind of joke.” He added.

There was a little paused where she still didn’t look amused. Then she seemed half ashamed, half annoyed.

“Do you mind if I borrow you a t-shirt or something. I haven’t unpacked yet.”

He nodded and she opened the closet, looking for something long enough to cover her butt. She took one she remembered. The Who t-shirt he was wearing on their first day at Beacon Hills high.

“Didn’t you wear that on the first day of high school?” She asked him.

He looked more than surprised.

“Yeah, it was after Scott got bit.” He added.

After she got ready for bed and got under the cover, Stiles headed for the door.

“Do you have to go? I mean, can you stay with me? I don’t want to sleep alone.” She whispered.

He smiled softly to her and lay down on the bed. He didn’t expect her to wrap her arms around him. She rested her head on his chest.  
Part of her wished would find who did this, but another part wished she could stay like this forever.

The next morning, they started to work on who could have killed Stiles. They stayed locked in the house for three days, before Lydia said she should go out to gathered a few more clues.  
She went to see Deaton and asked him if he could bring a ghost to life, she cried when he answered no.  
Stiles and Lydia spent a few more days on it before they finally found something. They had narrowed their suspects to two. Deucalion and Peter, both related to Stiles, the pack and the nemeton.

After two weeks of intense research, they took a break and spent the whole day watching TV, curled up under a blanket.  
Stiles insisted on watching Ghost. Lydia didn’t pay attention, she didn’t care for any ghost stories but hers and Stiles. Realising a bit too late that she was in love with Stiles. She loved the living Stiles, she did, though she believed it was more like brotherly love back then. She didn’t know what brotherly love really was, because she never had any brother or sister. Then she realised that her feelings were stronger than what she thought when she kissed him in the locker room.

“I shouldn’t have let you go after I kissed you. You wouldn’t have found the nemeton and you’d still be alive.” She said, her voice broke because of a sob.  
“It wasn’t your fault, it wasn’t anybody’s fault.” He reassured him.

She broke down and burst into tears. He stroke her hair, told her over again that it wasn’t her fault.

Lydia was in love with ghost/Stiles. That, she knew as soon as she realized that she wasn’t dreaming, but she hadn’t found the courage to tell him yet. She couldn’t tell to a dead person that she loved spending time with him. It wasn’t okay. But still, something inside her made her believe she needed to admit it for Stiles, for her, for everyone. He had to know that he was, is and will be loved. So when she was feeling that they were close enough to figure things out, she plucked up the courage to tell him.

“Stiles?” She murmured, one night when the only light in the room was provided by the near full moon. “Stiles are you sleeping?” She hushed louder.  
“I never sleep. I can’t, I was just closing my eyes. What’s going on, you’ve seen a ghost?”

He heard her laugh and realized that this was the first time since she moved here.

“I just wanted to say something.” She said, not knowing where or how to start.  
“Lydia, it’s okay. I know, you’re going to miss me and that you feel like you’ve lost a brother and I know…”  
“You’re wrong.” She felt him shifting to face her. “I… It’s not that. I didn’t lose a little brother. That day I lost my best friend and right know that I’m going to lose the guy that I’m in love with.” She paused and wiped her tears. She was such an emotional wreck lately. “I realized what my true feelings were when it was too late. Before I could say or do anything, your dad had called us to say you were dead. I don’t think there is a point to what I’m saying. Except that I love you and that I can’t stop thinking about our kiss…” She wiped a few more tears and spoke again. “I wasn’t sure how I would deal with your murderer but I know now. I’ll rip his heart out, and I will slice him in two. If the police can’t take care of criminal werewolf, I can.” 

He held her in his arms, tightly. Not wanting to let go, because, finally, Lydia was in love with him. 

“I love you too.” He whispered in her ear.  
“It’s so unfair that you didn’t get to live for long, or have the life you wanted while Peter and Deucalion walk around and live their life. I’m sorry one of them killed you.”

Stiles didn’t say anything. He tried to enjoy the remaining time he had with her.  
Stiles learned something about ghost, they could cry. Lydia felt his tears on her cheeks when she leaned in and kissed him, a cold but sweet kiss.

****************  
“No, no! No! NO!” Lydia yelled in horror.  
“What?? What’s going on?” Stiles asked panicked.  
“My computer crashed, I had just found something about the fire at Derek’s house…” She whined.  
“You can use mine.” He said, a hand on his forehead, trying to calm himself down from the rush of adrenaline he just had. 

Stiles would have carried his hand to his heart if there was still some blood left in his system but there was nothing left. He would have also been a gentleman, and carried his computer if he could have lifted something heavier than a feather. So Lydia grabbed his Mac from the top of the closet and turned it on. She looked closely at the web page Stiles had last been on. An online article about the nemeton. The nemeton could do something else than be used by druids, if a werewolf was sacrificed by another one, the killer would become nearly immortal, and he could become the master of death if the werewolf was a member of the family.  
She gasped for air, everything was clear now. 

“I know who killed you, Stiles!!!” She nearly shouted, even if he was next to her.

She put the computer down and rushed around the house. Stiles tried to get up and followed her around he was weaken. He couldn’t walk. He knew then that she had found his real murderer.  
She came back, opened her handbag and held a small zip bag. She dropped a gun on the bed. 

“You have a gun? Do you know how to use it?” he asked, concerned.  
“Of course.” She shrugged.  
“What’s that?” he asked pointing at the thing she was holding in her hand.  
“A silver bullet that is covered in wolves’ bane. Mr Argent gave it to me when I learned to use a gun.”

Stile swallowed painfully. He was slowly going away.  
He didn’t tell Lydia and let her go. He hoped against hope that he would still be there once she will be back. He didn’t even thought for one second that she could die. She just couldn’t, because she was a warrior, probably an even better fighter that Allison, because Lydia had been through much more than Allison.

Lydia walked towards the old, destroyed and abandoned house. She wasn’t scared like she used to be when she came here. Facing her old demons, she stepped inside and looked around. He was nowhere to be found.

“Come on.” She yelled, as rage took over her whole body.

She heard footsteps coming from what used to be the living room.

“I know I should have killed you on that field.” The voice was calm and cold.

It used to give shiver to Lydia, to make her panic, to just drive her crazy. But not anymore.

“Too bad you didn’t, because I know the truth, I know what you did. You killed him, you killed Stiles.” She replied, as coldly as she could be.  
“He was in my way, he has always been.” Peter said, hateful. “He was the one who told Scott about werewolves before could I could get him into my pack. He was the one in the hospital when I tried to kill Derek. He was always there, he was always in my way.”  
“What way?” she nearly laughed.  
“My way to greatness and power!! The last werewolf born werewolf. The last true alpha. But I couldn’t kill Derek and Cora, she ran away before I could kill her, because Stiles was in the way. I did kill Laura though, because Stiles wasn’t in my way.” He said, his jaw tensing.  
“Scott is the true alpha.” She replied, shouting to his face.

Peter’s eyes changed to yellow and he ran towards her. She got her gun out of her purse and shot blindly towards him.

“Lydia, down!” Scott screamed.

She did as she was told, soon protected by Isaac. She had missed Peter by an inch or two, but Allison had put an arrow in his left leg and he fell to the ground.  
Lydia watched as Derek and Scott were fighting against Peter. Allison was standing at the top of the stairs and reloaded her bow. She managed to get Peter down to the ground, weaken by the silver arrow.  
The two alphas held him down. He couldn’t even move, he just growled as Allison’s dad arrived. A sword in his hands. Lydia tried to get away, but Isaac was still holding her tight.

“I want to do it. I want to kill him.” She demanded to Chris.

Everybody looked at her, surprised. She put her cardigan back in place and brushed her hair to look a bit more descent and serious.

“He tortured me and killed him. I want to make him pay. I want to kill him. I promised it to Stiles. I said I would do it.”

Chris exchanged a look with Derek then signed to Lydia to come closer. 

“Aim for the stomach, and give it all you’ve got.” He told her and then gave her the sword.

Lydia took a deep breath, concentrating on her task, then Peter opened his mouth to say something. 

“You better shut the hell up or I’ll make it last longer. We all really would enjoy watching you suffer.” Lydia snapped.

He shut up and she held the sword over her head. 

“That’s for Stiles and Laura.” She shouted. 

She thrust forward, the sound of flesh being cut and blood streaming down to the floor resonated in the room.

“And that’s for me.”

The sword landed on the ground, she had put so much strength in it the first time that he was already dead. She didn’t even look at Peter otherwise she would have cut his body into small pieces and fed it to the mountain lions.  
She just turned to her friends. 

“How did you know?” She asked all of them.  
“We were keeping an eye on you since you didn’t show up for school. When you left in a hurry, I followed you here and texted the other to come right here.” Derek said.  
“We need to go back. To go back to Stiles.” She panicked.

She stopped her car in the driveway, didn’t even took the keys off the car, Scott did.  
She rushed inside, leaving every door opened behind her. She was in the bedroom in no time.  
He was still here, just very weak, almost gone, but he smiled when he saw her.

“I did it! He’s dead, Peter’s dead.” She cupped his face in her hands.  
“Can you promise me something?” He asked in a low voice.  
“Anything!” She replied, her eyes locked on his.  
“Don’t cry over me. I’m already dead. Just go and show them that Lydia Martin is the best. I knew it since third grade, but the whole world needs to know.”

She sobbed. 

“Promise?” He extended his little finger.  
“Promise.” She intertwined her finger with his.  
“Tell the others, if they can’t see me, that I love them.”

Lydia wanted to turn around to see if the others were here or could see Stiles, but she was too scared he’d be gone before she looked back at him. But the small smile and wave he gave made her believed they could see him.

“Tell my dad I love him too, and tell him I’d be more than happy if he starts a new life.” He paused and sighed. He was about to give his farewell to her, and he really didn’t want to. “These last weeks were the best ever, I’m sorry I have to leave you.” 

An apologetic smile spread across his face. Lydia washed it away with a kiss, deep and meaningful. So intimate, it made the other look away. 

“I love you.” He whispered.  
“I love you too.” She replied. 

They kissed again, until there was nothing else than air brushing Lydia’s lip. She didn’t move or say anything. She just breathed, smelling his perfume, still feeling his lips against hers.  
She turned around, and saw that everybody was crying, even Mr Argent. They had seen Stiles one last time.  
Then after a few hours they all went back to their home. Derek even hugged Lydia, thanking her for what she did. 

Lydia didn’t know when the sheriff would be back in town. So she wrote a letter, telling him about Peter and about what Stiles wished. She knew the sheriff would listen, he always listened to Stiles after he had realized his son was right about the werewolves. She sent it to the sheriff’s new address.

Lydia just tried to live with this numbness in her heart, a void that was only filled when Stiles had been there. It was sometimes half filled when she looked down at picture of the formal, remembering that time he saved her life…

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, I hope you liked it.


End file.
